Family Values
by DJsapien
Summary: Coraline & Addams Family x-over. Coraline wonders why she has never met her mother's cousin, Morticia, or any of the other Addams' for that matter. After Wednesday and Pugsley unleash the Beldam, its up to Coraline and co. to save Whybie from her reach .
1. Cousin Who?

Family Values

This is a Coraline (movieverse) and Addams Family crossover. This is my second fanfiction in general and my first Coraline fanfiction. Reviews are welcome and appreciated but by no means should readers feel obliged. My first fanfiction was a Lion King story in the "general/romance" genre, but this is more adventure- and humor-oriented, so I'm really excited about making it kind of 'creepy' but still lighthearted. Well, here it goes!

Rating: Rated T for some language, mild themes, some dark humor, and all that good stuff.

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Chapter 1: Cousin Who?

Coraline Jones sighed as she disembarked the school bus and approached the archaic Pink Apartments building. She fumbled her colorful gloved hands through her messenger bag until she found the house key. She trudged through the ground floor until she found her parent's apartment and unlocked the door. Before she could open the door, her mother, Mel Jones, beat her to the punch from the other end.

"Hey, Coraline! I finally finished this month's issue of the gardening catalogue, so I decided to take a break for the afternoon. So….how was the first day of school?"

Coraline was about to tell her mother how school recently became a safe haven for idiot classmates and insane teachers ….but she decided to give her the nice version of her day. Besides, it was not very often when Mel Jones actually finished an issue in less than three weeks.

"Umm…it was great. You know…educational?"

"Okay…well is there anyone you know in your classes?"

Coraline stomped through the door and walked past her mother to the staircase.

"Yeah mom…._unfortunately_." Coraline furrowed her brows as she mumbled.

"What was that, dear?"

"Nothing, Mom. I'm gonna get started on homework now."

Coraline opened the door to her room and threw her bag at the closed Little Door. Even if someone could still hear her from the other side of the portal, she would not care in the least. Coraline chuckled as she pictured a scrawny, button-eyed doppelganger banging at her door with the blunt end of a broomstick while yelling "Hey! Keep it down over there!"

Coraline stopped smiling once she remembered why the little reverie could never happen. She had destroyed the world on the other side and she….or rather…_they_…defeated the Beldam. Coraline groaned as she remembered the boy who made "her" into a "they". Unfortunately, he was same boy who had to be the worst thing that happened to her school.

_"Hey Coraline! You're in this class too? I just transferred to your school over the summer. Sorry I didn't tell you. It must have slipped my mind. "_

Well, to be completely honest, first period was not when her world ended. After all, he was annoying but he was still her friend, and he was definitely not annoying enough to ruin her day just because of one class. No…it took al lot more of her classes for him to become unbearable.

_"Wow, Coraline! You're in my second period too? That is so cool! You know I was hoping that since we were in Science and English together that we could be lab partners in Sciernce….and in English we could be partners in class projects and brainstorm ideas, and….and…_

_"Wow, we're in each other's third period Art class, too? That is really something. Although, I always pictured you to be the artistic type. I'm not exactly the best drawer, which makes it really weird that I even chose Art in the first place, because it would have been the class to break our shared schedule. It's kind of funny, really, because when I was younger, my guidance counselor thought I had Asperger's Syndrome, so they didn't even suggest that I take art classes because they thought that I wouldn't relate to it, but since the diagnosis was wrong and I actually appreciate art….._

_Wow ,fourth period math too? That's a little unusual considering the distribution of the number of students enrolled in this school when compared to the number of classes we have throughout the day….I mean it's a quantifiable anomaly that we could be in the same class consecutively for four class periods in a row, let alone the fact that my grandma chose this school when she pulled out its name randomly from her church hat. Then again, considering her arthritis and Parkinson's, it is possible that she meant to choose another piece of paper which means that in all probability….umm…are you okay Coraline? You look as if you don't know what I'm talking about, but I know you do because since we are, again, in the same math class, we both have the capacity to comprehend the statistical phenomena known as "random sampling"…_

"_Hey 'schedule-buddy'! Come sit at our table….er….my table. I'm glad we have the same lunch period because honestly, I feel like some of the kids at this school are kind of nerdy, so it's nice to know someone who isn't a complete nerd. Know what I'm saying?"_

And of course, the last class of the day. The one class where just the subject alone could ruin her day despite it being placed to close to dismissal time. And of course, this already volatile subject just had to include a certain hunchback in its roster.

_Okay, now I've seen it all. From start to finish, we have the exact same schedule! What are the odds? Too bad we can't start Health class at the beginning of the day so I could start the school day off right…I love Health class! Speaking of health class, did you know that compared to boys, girls start their sexual development at an average age of…._

"Aargh!" Coraline grunted as she balled her fists and punched her pillow. "Stupid Whybie! He just never shuts up!"

Coraline marched over to her antique bookcase and kicked one of its legs until a picture of her and Whybie at a theme park fell off the wall.

"Geesh! If he were a little bit less dorky, he might actually be…tolerable…?

Coraline's beet-red face lowered to the floor. There, she saw not one photograph, but two. One picture was the one of her and Whybie. The other….was one she was sure that she had never seen before. This photo was of two young women. Both women had long dark hair and large eyes. Coraline realized with a gasp that one of the women was her mother, Mel Jones, back of course when she had longer hair. Her mother was dressed in a turquoise colored turtleneck and from looking at her furrowed brows, Coraline thought that she seemed to be lacking self-confidence….either that…or she was very uncomfortable to be standing there.

The woman next to her was what bothered Coraline the most. She seemed to be around the same age as her mother, but something about the way she held her body….the way she kept her eyes half-lidded in a seductive stare and the way she seemed to smile flawlessly gave Coraline a slight shudder. That smile…..that hollow grin…it seemed slightly familiar to the young girl. But from where? Coraline looked up from the photograph to stare at the Little Door and she remembered the Other Mother's smile. Yes, of course…it was the hollow, artificial smile of a sociopath; a person who knew how to keep false pretenses so that others may think what they want.

Coraline turned the piece of paper over to see if anything was written on the back. In spidery blue pen, "Mel and Morticia" was written. As Coraline flipped the photograph over again, she felt something prick her finger. At closer inspection, she saw that it was a wooden splinter. Coraline crawled over to her bookshelf and moved it away from the wall. What she saw surprised her. Taped to the back of the bookshelf was a small stack of four by two photographs. Two photos fell off the back of the bookcase and fluttered under it. She tore off the stack and flipped each portrait to view the subjects and the names on the back as she read out loud.

"Mel with Gomez…Mel with Fester….Mel with Wednesday….Mel with Pugsley….Mel with Thing….Mel with….It?! What in the world is _that_?!"

At that point she heard a knock on her door. Her mother's face peeked through the door with a metal tray in hand.

"Surprise! I baked some cookies right before you came home. I know you like M&Ms but we only had chocolate chips. Uhh….dear…where did all those photos come from?"

Coraline looked at her wide-eyed while she flailed the pieces of paper in her hands.

"I was kinda hoping you could tell me! Who are these people and why do we have pictures of them?!"

Mel Jones set the tray on Coraline's desk and picked a photograph from Coraline's left hand.

"Oh,dammit....er….I mean 'darnit'….I was hoping I would never see these again…You see Coraline, these are my family. You see that woman, Morticia? Well, she is my first cousin. Wednesday and Pugsley are her children and Gomez is her husband. Fester is Gomez's brother and--"

"Wait, Mom. She's your first cousin, but I've never met her…why?"

Mel patted her daughter's head and sighed.

"Honey, all you need to know is that they are just a little….eccentric. They are estranged for a reason. We haven't spoken in thirteen years and I would like to keep it that way. Hmm…I guess I should have hidden the pictures better. The bookshelf was originally mine but then I gave it to you once we moved. I guess I forgot about the photos…."

Her mother exited the room leaving the cookie tray behind. Coraline walked over to her desk and took a bite out of the treat. She glanced at the back of a particular photograph before pulling out a piece of stationary and a pen from a drawer. Coraline pulled out another letter from her drawer—a letter written by her mother. Coraline carefully lifted the pen to draft letters in the exact same way as her mother. The spidery ink of the back of the photo was:

"Well Mel, it sure was a scream to have you at the mansion. I would love to take up your invitation for a home visit. In case you want to send us a written invitation, our address is 1313 Cemetary Lane…"

Coraline completed the letter and tucked the stationary into an envelope.

"Time to return the favor, Morticia."


	2. Remember That Emo Phase?

Chapter 2: Remember That Emo Phase…?

Coraline sat on the family couch to watch some cartoons and finish her math homework. It was Saturday afternoon and exactly thirteen days since she had sent the letter to the mysterious Addamses. Coraline stared at the statistics problems on her paper and sighed in frustration. Her school really was the haven for stalker-nerds and crazy teachers. Whybie undoubtedly proved one half of that statement. Mrs. Purns proved the other half.

_Ms. Jones, I don't care if your name was Yoleesha or Stefanya. It is a made up name and I will not put up with it. "Coraline" is not a real name….but "Caroline" is and that is what I will call you from now on…it's either that or "Ms. Jones"._

Coraline erased her name at the top of her math homework and wrote down "Caroline" instead. She knew that if she did not write "Caroline", then Mrs. Purns would say "Coraline? I don't have a student with that name because it DOESN'T EXIST! Oh, well….I just won't grade it since the person's name is not on the assignment."

Mel Jones' voice shrieked from upstairs.

"Coraline? Your father and I are going out to the garden to take some photos for the catalogue. Where's your camera? Mine is at the shop for repairs."

"On my desk, next to my sketchpad."

"Oh, I see it."

The young girl regained her attention to the television set. She was watching a rerun of Teen Titans. Coraline was not really interested in the show when it first aired years ago, but she found its most recent run to be nothing short of refreshing. It was the "Birthmark" episode and Slade, the Titans' archnemesis, was restraining Raven while giving her a clairvoyant preview of her apocalyptic future.

_Wow,_ Coraline thought to herself, _Slade is kind of a creeper._

DING-DONG!!!

Coraline leapt off the couch to answer the apartment door. She had sort of forgotten about her expected visitors until right at that moment.

"I got it, guys."

After opening the door to her family's apartment, she rushed to open the main door of the house. Coraline wrapped her fingers around the brass doorknob and took a deep breath.

_Well….here it goes…_

She opened her eyes and quickly turned the knob. She jerked the door open and craned her neck.

"Umm….hello….are you one of the Addamses?"

In front of her was a large behemoth of a man dressed in a butler's tuxedo. He stood well over six-feet tall and had shoulders broader than the doorway. His hands were roughly the size and shape of gardening spades and his head was gaunt and blunt. His blank, expressionless face and body shape was strongly reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster.

The man extended one of his absurdly large hands. In a gravelly, monotone voice, the man explained himself.

"I'm not quite an Addams….but the Addamses are kind enough to consider me family….they call me _"Lurch"_. Often I play the roles of manservant, chef, chauffer, and entertainer of Master Pugsley and Miss Wednesday. And if you don't mind.."

Lurch extended an arm and pointed to a pile of large suitcases that were situated beside the doorbell.

"…I have some bags that need transporting."

Coraline was shocked to see that many large bags in a pile. _Did he really carry all of that up here?_

"Umm…yes…come right in….do you need any help?"

"That will be unnecessary Ms. Jones."

The giant of a man bent down and grabbed half of the suitcases handles in one fist while carrying the second half in another.

Coraline stepped aside while she witnessed the giant thunder through the building lobby. He laid the bags near the front of the door adorned with a plaque that read "Jones" and retreated back through the front door. Coraline walked out onto the porch to catch a glimpse of her company.

Parked next to a patch of thick pines was a large, sleek hearse. One of the front doors opened and a lean mustached man in an Italian suit crawled out in a sort of pretzel-crabwalk. After repositioning himself and standing upright, the man traipsed to the trunk of the hearse while laughing in slightly accented speech. Coraline remembered him as Gomez, one of the men that her mother was posing with in one of the photographs.

"See Fester, old chap. I told you that this was the correct way to sit in a carseat. Those seats were ergonomically designed for this position! By far it is much more comfortable than the position that those defective driving manuals always depicted."

The mustached man opened the trunk and chucked a spare tire and a cross-wrench at a tree. He pulled a ghost-white man out of the trunk. The man released from the trunk was bald, dressed in a tan trenchcoat, and emerged in a similar pretzel contortion. While unraveling himself, the bald man cackled. Coraline gasped when she saw how the charcoal-black circles of his sunken eyes contrasted with his paper-white skin. She remembered glancing at a photograph of him but for some reason the dark circles were not as conspicuous on the small portrait.

"Well Brother, that's what you get these days with outsourcing! 'Printed in China, you know!' Poor people---they probably don't even know that the diagrams were defective. Think of all the customers who are reading those manuals and driving in such an uncomfortable and unhealthy posture! We should write to the company about their mistake!"

"That we should, Fester…that we should….Oh, time to let everyone else out! I'm sure that the children are driving Morticia and Grandmama sane with their incessant prattle."

Coraline furrowed her brow in skeptical smirk when she heard that. _Didn't he mean 'driving them __**in**__sane?_

A woman clothed in a black dress emerged from the backseat. Gomez grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"Come, my love. Take in the scenery of your cousin's abode."

Coraline inhaled sharply. Although she and her family attempted to remodel the landscaping and gardens during last spring, the evidence of their hard work was short-lived. Before the end of summer, the flowers wilted back into dismal corpses and marshy depressions filled the lawns as a result of the constant precipitation. By early September, Coraline was extremely annoyed with people (especially wives, of course; the husbands rarely noticed or cared) pointing out for the umpteenth time that their place looked hopelessly depressing. _Well, let's see how Morticia likes our condemned living space._ Thought Coraline.

The pale woman turned her body to take in the view of the dark woods, simultaneously flailing her tentacle-like dress-hem. To Coraline's surprise, when Morticia's face turned back around, her eyes were wide-open in genuine appreciation. A smile crept across her lips.

"Why it's absolutely delightful! I rather like Mel's new taste in atmosphere. Wouldn't you say so, dear?"

Coraline sighed in relief. It was refreshing that someone would finally not think of her house as horrible or boring. But still….it was a little strange to see someone doing more than tolerating it….Morticia seemed to actually _like_ it.

The man known as Gomez took out a cigar from his jacket pocket and lit it.

"Well I can't really compare, Morticia. You visited their last house, not me. I was busy taking care of one year old Wednesday. Now how long ago was that?"

"Well let me think….it had to be about thirteen years ago, since Wednesday is now fourteen and I was pregnant with Pugsley at the time. Hmm….it was a long time ago now that you think about it. But trust me, this is a huge improvement. Now I wonder if Mel had any sweet little hellions of her own…oh there! Look Gomez…it must be Mel's daughter over there! Look at the resemblance!"

Gomez took a puff of his cigar and saw a young girl peering at them from the porch.

"Well hello there, Mel Number Two!"

Coraline blushed once she remembered that she had been standing outside the door, watching her guests before she even offered them to come inside.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me. My name is Coraline Jones. Please come inside!"

Coraline dashed into the building and unlocked the door to her family's apartment. Coraline used a suitcase to prop the door open. She ran through the den into the kitchen and grabbed tray of brownies that she had made the day before and dumped them on a plate. She shoved the plate into the microwave and pressed the time duration for a few minutes. After the time was up, she grabbed the plate and rushed to the front door and past the den where Fester and Grandmama were sitting on the couch. Her mother and father stopped her before she could reach the open door.

"Thanks for letting us borrow your camera, sweetie. We will be back in about an hour.….young lady, what are you doing with all of those brownies?"

Mel Jones felt a tap on her shoulder and looked over her shoulder. Her mouth fell agape as the pale woman behind her grabbed her in a deep embrace.

"Mel, it's so great to see you after all of this time! It's me, Morticia! Has it really been thirteen years?.....It felt much longer."

Mel Jones weakly smiled in an attempt to suppress a strong pang of guilt.

"Oh, yes….I missed you so much. It's been too long…"

"I know, Mel….really…I never had the chance to tell you this, but you really were like the sister I never had."

"Well that's great Morticia…..you were like the…the….oh look….little Wednesday and Pugsley are here too…_great_…"

Coraline turned her attention to a boy and girl who just stepped through the door. The boy was pudgy and wore a grey and white horizontal striped shirt. The girl was thin and shared the same dark demeanor as mother, but had a more charming smile.

"Would you like a brownie?" Coraline pushed a tray in front of them.

The boy eyed the brownies suspiciously and picked up one. He took a bite and pursed his lips bitterly. Pugsley grudgingly swallowed the baked confection.

"Ugh…" groaned Pugsley, "If I didn't know any better, I would say that was _chocolate_ flavored."

Coraline stared at Pugsley blankly. Once she had processed the ridiculous thing that the boy had just said, she answered him.

"Well, yeah….what other flavor would it be?"

The somber-faced young girl's eyes lit up. In a didactic, yet sweet voice, the girl elaborated on the alternate flavors.

"There are lots of different kinds of delicious brownies. There are mud brownies, blood brownies, aspirin brownies, marijua----"

"Okaaay Wednesday!" Mel intervened, "How about you two go into the den with your parents and entertain yourselves. Or better yet, don't break….I mean…entertain…er….I mean do anything dangerous in there…… there is a television set you guys can watch."

Coraline turned on her heel to surreptitiously follow the children until her father grabbed her ear.

"Not you, young lady! We are going to have a talk with you upstairs."

****

Upstairs in her bedroom, Coraline sat on her bed with her head drooped towards the floor.

"Seriously, Coraline….this is by far a new low for you." Charlie Jones chided, "Your mother clearly told you that we are to remain estranged from them and you should have respected that."

"But it's not fair, dad. I know who _your _cousins are and no offense, I love them and all, but they are BORING! Mom's cousin and her family are actually….cool."

Mel took a deep breath and took her daughter by the shoulders.

"Coraline….you have no idea what you have just done. They are not "cool", okay? They are extremely eccentric."

"What do you mean, mom?"

"Coraline, you know that emo or goth or whatever phase your going through? And you know those clothes that you beg me to let you wear?"

"Um…sure." She never really thought of herself as going through a "phase" let alone an "emo" one.

"Well dear….Morticia and Gomez never outgrew that phase."

"That…is awesome!"

"No dear. It's not 'awesome'. To call them 'morbid' would be an understatement. They religiously watch 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit' as family programming."

"Ohh…..I see what you mean…"

"Well…." Started Charlie, "It's not as if we can kick them out….and they sure have travelled a long way…."

"Fine!" hissed Mel, "Let them stay for some of the week. Wednesday and Pugsley are homeschooled anyways."

A loud shatter resonated off the walls from the den.

"Hello up there?" Gomez yelled, "I told Fester that he can't balance a vase on his buttocks, but the damned fool tried to prove me wrong with three!"

Mel and Charlie groaned in unison. Coraline jumped off of her bed to leave her room, but Charlie grabbed her by the arm and put a broom and dustpan in her hands.

"I was saving these for the gardens, but it seems as if we won't be getting to that today because your company will be taking up all of our time. And yes, they are "your company" which means that they are your responsibility and any mess they make is your problem."

Coraline huffed and exited her bedroom. It was gonna be a long week.

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Wow, this chapter was kind of challenging since I had to keep Morticia and Coraline in consistent character along with keeping Coraline, Pugsley,and Wednesday's ages straight. But besides that, it was still really fun to imagine the scenes happening.

I got the idea for Coraline's name dilemma from a podcast I heard about this guy's true story whose rabbi teacher forced him to change his name for class assignments because it was "Shaalom" which was apparently one of the numerous names of God in the Jewish faith. I am not Jewish, but I found the story pretty sad because the Rabbi would confiscate anything and everything that Shaalom put his name on. This included but was not limited to baseball cards, lunchboxes, comic books, etc. And of course, any class assignments that Shaalom would turn in would not be graded unless he changed his name at the top. Just an FYI.


	3. Whybie's World

Chapter 3: Whybie's World

Sorry HotaruofKonoha, but Whybie was always meant to be in this story (I suppose the"character filter" and the summary became obligations to fulfill).

Reviews/constructive criticisms are greatly appreciated.

DISCLAIMER

*Oh, and I forgot to mention this in all of the other chapters, but yeah…just in case there was some confusion (I highly doubt that)…..there is no way I could ever own the rights to "The Addams Family" or the "Coraline", movie or book…all elements belong to Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick as well as the proprietors of "Laika" and "Focus Features" studios…elements of"The Addams Family" belong to the creators of the "Addams" New Yorker comic strip as well as to the numerous studios that produced the sitcom, films, and cartoon show….so….please don't sue me….*

Whybie steadied the titanium tripod and loaded an SD card into a camcorder. He was on the floor in his bedroom with the blinds pulled down on his window and with his bedroom door shut. Hanging on the door handle was a hand-drawn cardboard sign that read "Do Not Enter Studio: Filming in Progress!"

Whybie wiped away a drop of sweat from his brow as he walked towards his closet. Double checking that the door was firmly closed and that his window was blocked, he opened his closet haphazardly. If anyone saw what he was about to do, the taunts would live with him until the grave. Whybie moved boxes around until he removed a plastic dollhouse from deep within the small room. Using both hands, Whybie sat the doll house in front of the camera with the open half of the house facing the lens. The frizzy-haired boy then pulled a pile of magazines from under his bed.

A few months ago, the incident with the Beldam sparked an idea in Whybie's impressionable psyche. The Beldam rewrote reality with her "dolls"….so why can't he do the same? Coraline was able to experience a fantasy world….albeit it turned out to be a hellish, dystopian world, but a fantasy nonetheless…..so why couldn't he?

Whybie flipped through outdated and current issues of "People" and "Us Today" magazines that he had taken from his grandmother's coffee table and began cutting images out with a pair of scissors. Four weeks ago, Whybie found his mother's old dollhouse from the seventies. His grandmother kept the dollhouse in the attic for sentimental reasons. Although the dollhouse was a bright, Barbie pink, Whybie quickly remedied the problem with a blue construction paper and marker sign that read "Whybie's Crib".

After cutting out images from magazines and gluing them onto popsicle sticks, Whybie walked over to his bulletin board and removed the photo from the summer of him and Coraline at a Theme Park. He began cutting away at the images of them and glued them onto popsicle sticks just as he had done with the others.

The neighborhood boy propped a popsicle stick picture of Angelina Jolie sitting on one end of the couch. The picture that Whybie chose was the one of her walking down the red carpet in a skimpy, elaborate dress for the Academy Awards Ceremony. Sitting on the opposite side of the couch was a popsicle stick cutout of Megan Fox during a demonic attack scene from "Jessica's Body". Propped up against the prop refrigerator was a popsicle stick-cutout of Rihanna during a scene from her "Umbrella" video. Sitting on the floor in front of the prop tv was a popsicle stick cutout of Halle Berry dressed in the infamous "Catwoman" costume.

"And the finishing touches."

Whybie placed his popsicle-framed avatar on the couch in between Angelina and Meagan. He placed Coraline's avatar at the front door, as if she were just walking in.

Whybie pressed the power button of the camera.

"Lights!" He flipped the knob of a desk lamp so that the bulb was lit and positioned just above the dollhouse.

"Camera." He let his finger rest on the Record button.

"And….action!" He pressed Record and zoomed in on Coraline walking through door.

"Whybie? What do you think you're doing with all these….other women?!"

Whybie grabbed Rihanna and made her body move with his index finger and thumb while providing a feminine and slightly accented voice.

"He is ours now! He is a much better boyfriend than our past lovers."

"Yeah," said mini-Whybie, "You rejected me, so what is it to you?"

Demonic Meagan Fox leapt off of the couch and beared her fangs at Coraline.

"Yeah, only an idiot would ever reject him! In fact, he is such a good boyfriend that we all decided to put our selfishness behind us and let him have all of us…at the same time!"

Halle Berry chimed in from the floor, "That's right. The rules of monogamy don't apply to Whybie Lovatt because he is too good of a person to be restricted by such archaic limitations!"

Mini-Coraline's face drooped to the floor, "I didn't know….that you were in such high demand now Whybie…I guess that I shouldn't have rejected your date proposal on the ferris wheel at the amusement park on that hot, sweltering, summer day…..this whole time, I just thought of you as some disposable friend and I took you for granted….I never thought that the day would come that I would grovel at your home and beg to come back to you….But please take me back! I don't care if I have to share you, just as long as I am with you!"

Mini-Whybie sat on the couch as he ---imaginarily---stroked his chin and hummed.

"Well….I am a _very_ generous guy….so _yes_, you can come back. But under one condition"

"What's that?"

"You must square off with Megan Fox in a catfight. It's not a fight to the death or anything, but it's a Saturday and house rules dictate that every Saturday is Catfight Night. Since you are knew to the house, it is tradition that you must fight with the first woman that joined the house.

"Whatever you say, Whybie! Thank you for being so generous and offering me a second chance!"

'And….cut!" The boy stopped filming. Well, scene number one was finished and there were ten more scenes to go before the episode was finished. Whybie sighed as he prepared the photo-cutouts for the next scene. The pictures of him and the celebrities were slightly out of scale---Whybie and Coraline's heads were about the size of Angelina and Megan's hand—but this was as close to a fantasy world as Whybie could make it.

_If only it were real._ He lamented.

_Wait…what am I saying? Yeah it would be nice if Coraline said "yes" to my date. It would be "nice" if I lived with beautiful women. But that is the same thinking that got Coraline in trouble with the Other World. Reality is the way it is for a reason and I have to remember that._

_Still._ Whybie flipped through his sketchbook to skim over the drawn storyboards for the fight scene between Coraline and Megan Fox,

_It still doesn't hurt to pretend….does it?_

Whybie sighed and put a bedsheet over the dollhouse. The fight scene would have to wait; for now he needed to ride his bike to the grocery store to pick up a gallon of prune juice a denture cream for his grandmother.

Whybie left his room and ran downstairs. He hopped onto his bike and started peddling down the street. As usual, he would take the route through Coraline's street although it was somewhat out of the way. Perhaps with other people, there encounters would be awkward after the certain incident but this was not a problem for Whybie since he and Coraline were still friends even though she turned him down. Instead of talking about it, they agreed to never speak of it to each other again.

Whybie turned the corner and spotted the Pink Apartments. He stopped peddling once he saw the ostentatious black hearse.

_Who could that belong to?Morticians? Whoever they are, they must be Coraline's visitors considering that the other tenants don't exactly get a lot of company._

Whybie saw the front door inch open and decided to hide. In one swift move he stooped down so that the top of the hearse obscured his head and pushed the bicycle flat onto the ground.

_Wait…_. _my first reaction was to hide so I can spy on her and her company? Is that weird? _

The first figure to appear from the door was a thin-stick like girl. She had long black hair in a braid and a relaxed smile drawn from the corners of her lips. Once Whybie noticed her eyes, he was mesmerized by their half-lidded shape.

_That is definitely not Coraline._

Whybie was about to emerge from behind the car until two more people appeared from the open front door. The first was a round, overweight boy who seemed to be about the same age as the girl. Unlike the girl, he seemed to have a genuine smile and eyes wide open with enthusiasm. Lastly was Coraline carrying a large burlap bag.

Once Whybie was certain that the trio had turned the corner of the house, he walked his bike away from the car and left it on the front lawn.

**Twenty minutes ago**----

Gomez sat in one of the blue living room chairs while he watched a television program about predatory arthropods.

"Ah…." Sighed Gomez as he took a puff of his noxious cigar, "Nature in its full splendor! I couldn't imagine a more beautiful sight."

On the screen was a closeup of a black imperial scorpion stabbing a desert mouse with its venomous tail. Coraline was transfixed on the screen, more out of awe at the scorpion's swiftness than out of fear.

She bent on her knees and continued sweeping the vase pieces into a handheld dustpan. It hasn't even been a full day yet and the Addamses were already breaking things. Oh well, it was better than the boring Saturday morning that would have happened if she had never invited them.

Coraline stopped sweeping and cocked her head to the side in order to train her ear onto a nearby noise. She turned behind her and then brought her attention back to the mess on the floor. Then, she turned over her shoulder again.

_That sound…..wasn't something moving just then? Maybe it was rats or something._

"Something wrong, Mel number Two?" Coraline turned to see Gomez moving his attention from the television set to her. His face seemed genuinely concerned, but the eyes seemed to be looking beyond her, as if something was behind her.

"Um….it's nothing….I just thought I heard something move on the floor."

"Uh….huh…." Gomez' gaze strayed away from her face. The young girl followed his gaze to catch the scene behind her. Of course, nothing was there.

"What are you looking at Un….Uncle Gomez?" Coraline hesitated to call him by the familial name….it seemed….strange to do so.

"Umm…what? Nothing…nothing. Well, how has school been going, Coraline?"

As Coraline complained about how boring the new school year was, she did not notice that behind her back, something small and spider-like shuffled on the floor in circles before crawling inside of one of Lurch's large leather boots that were lined up along the staircase.

"Well at least Thing is out of sight…." Gomez mumbled under his breath

"What was that?"

"Nothing dear….Well I think that's just great that you can socialize with other children at your school. Wednesday and Pugsley are homeschooled by their mother and Grandmama now since the other schoolchildren never really took a liking to them. Speaking of homeschooling, I think that you two were assigned a science project for the weekend?"

He then eyed the two children sitting on the floor who were intently studying the scene of a tarantula seizing a rat with its forelegs.

"Aww….can't we wait until this is over? Her eggsack is about to hatch!"

"Now Pugsley, you two know that if you don't finish your project by tonight, you will have detention with Grandmamma tomorrow….although she is your grandmother, she is still your science teacher and a strict grader."

Wednesday pouted and raised her body up from the floor.

"Come on Pugsley….we might as well do it….Coraline, do you want to help us out? We could always use another lab partner."

Coraline had finished throwing the broken pieces into a trashcan and was now sitting on the couch.

"Umm…alright. What will we do?"

"Come with us," ordered Wednesday as she walked over to a suitcase and pulled a burlap bag from inside of it. "We will explain it once we see Grandmama out in the garden." Wednesday cautiously handed the bag to Coraline and told her to be extremely careful while holding it.

The children walked out of the door and turned the corner towards the backyard garden. Coraline felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to meet the mysterious fourth traveler. Coraline jumped at first from being startled but then calmed down once she saw Whybie's unassuming blank expression.

"Whybie! You scared me…..you're such a creeper! How do you always sneak up on people without them knowing?"

Whybie shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I kind of learned it from when my grandma would take naps and I would try to walk around the house without waking her up. Believe it or not, I sometimes do it without realizing it…..like now for instance." Whybie turned his attention to the adolescents behing her.

"Who are they?"

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The title of the chapter was a play on the movie title "Wayne's World". I meant for the title to be interpreted in two ways ("Wayne's World" was about the titular character's homemade television show and of course Whybie was living through _his_ fantasy world). I halfway got the idea for Whybie's fantasy dollhouse by sort of switching gender roles in the scene from "13 Going On 30" when Beaver gave Jenna her fantasy dollhouse (could you tell?), but then I tried to make it just a little bit weirder by having him roleplaying his feelings of rejection.


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